


Through a Mirror

by Foxbear



Category: Lost in Space (TV 2018)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Danger John Robinson, Danger Will Robinson, Family, Family Feels, From the Robots' Perspective, Gen, Lost in space - Freeform, Other, Robot family, Science Fiction Violence, reversed roles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 08:40:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14540937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxbear/pseuds/Foxbear
Summary: Everything had been fine until the evacuation alarm had sounded. Progenitor had calmly rounded them up and they had loaded onto the ship. One crash landing later and Geal finds himself stranded alone with a strange organic in the middle of a raging forest fire.





	Through a Mirror

Someone was trying to kill him  
“Soldier.”  
The word drifted through the failing light of the forest and rose into the cloud soaked sky like a fleck of ash. There was danger in this deceptively peaceful place. Things hunted the understory. Was it one of them? Was he prey for those creatures? That, didn’t feel right. No, someone, no mindless beast, was trying to kill him.  
“Soldier,” the being pinned to the trunk of a towering conifer tree muttered again.  
He repeated the word to himself as he shivered, the ice that held him against the trunk draining the little remaining heat from his body. Soldier. He whispered the word through bloody teeth. Soldier. He breathed it past cracked lips. It was important. His mission…  
“God speed soldier,” there was a grim smile on the face of the being who faced him. “Keep them safe.” A being like him. What was he? Who was he?  
“Soldier,” he gasped out as his thoughts became more lucid and the memory faded.  
But it wasn’t only the frustration of reaching out for the fragmented memories that had woken him. Something had called his attention this time. A sound. He turned his head, eyes scanning the ground below him. There. One of the creatures he had seen before. A lumbering rhino like- (rhino?) beast was approaching, it’s eyes focused in interest in something just out of the soldier’s sight. He twisted as hard as he could against the suffocating softness that pinned him to no avail. He snarled and slammed his hand against the filthy snow and ice.  
“Forget how I got here,” he muttered. “How did this get here?”  
The surrounding forest looked cold and damp enough but there was no sign of the sort of mass of snow that could have generated the ball that pinned him to the tree. Maybe it had rolled down from the scree slope. Maybe there was a … a … the memory – a giant mass of something white- slipped out of his mind without leaving behind a name and he hissed in frustration. He eyed the lumbering creature wondering if he could use it to get out of here, wondering what it was chasing.  
A sound like music jerked his attention back to the ice that pinned him. Something had used his distraction to scramble up the slope to get him. The soldier struck out with a nearly numb fist and barely felt the blow glance off the shoulder armor of the – the thing. He cursed his weakness but it had the desired effect. The thing, the mass of metal and cabling gave a terrified sound and spun around to face the soldier. He raised his fist again, prepared to punch it in the face, or whatever it used for a face, but something, something more than cold or numbness held the blow back.  
Child; a word with no other association than this thing before him and a wash of emotion so powerful that it seemed to almost melt the ice that held him. It was so small. So cute. Enemy. That word he knew understood. Soldier’s fought enemies. Enemy, one part of his foggy brain insisted. Child, roared another. It was injured he suddenly saw. Lacerations along its pelvic girdle seeped glowing fluid.  
The moment of hesitation had cost him the element of surprise he realized only seconds after he discovered he had had it. The metal enemy-child was now staring at him with horror dancing across its communications hub. But instead of using the advantage to attack it scooted backwards, back down the slope of ice, its many (too many the soldier’s brain insisted) limbs scrambling for purchase on the slippery surface.  
Well good, thought the soldier trying to ignore the potent mix of guilt, dissatisfaction, anger that swept over him on seeing the child-enemy’s fear. Get away from me.  
A snarl from below them halted both the child-enemy’s retreat and the soldier’s confusion. The beast was attempting to climb the ice, reaching up for the child-enemy, jaws gnashing. Jaws that dripped with the same fluid that stained the legs of the child-enemy. The child-enemy (child, child! The soldier’s mind roared louder now, even as the voice whispering enemy faded) whipped its communication’s hub around to stare in glowing red fear at the beast and then back at the soldier, clearly torn between the two dangers. It scooted back towards the soldier, away from the more active beast. The soldier snarled, and gave another swing with his fist. The child…child-enemy stopped just short of range of the blow and gave several more terrified glances between the two beings vying to end its existence. It seemed to make up its processors that this was the safest location and resolutely shoved its eight legs into the compacted snow and ice. It glanced down at the beast who was rapidly losing interest in the out of reach prey, and decided that the soldier was the greatest threat.  
“Comfy?” The soldier demanded with a grim smile as he lifted his fist threateningly.  
Fear danced like the embers of a fire in the child-enemy’s communication’s hub, its face, as it lifted a hand to its chest and touched a raised portion gently. The soldier tensed as the face lights shifted from general terror and confusion to actual words.  
“Progenitor, come in,” the child said in dancing lights. “This is Geal and I am in a lot of danger.”  
The soldier stared in shock at the child, Geal, not lowering his fists but not moving them either. He understood its language…how…how could he understand this creature’s language when he couldn’t remember his own name? Was this really an enemy? This frightened child? His head was really messed up. As was the rest of him of course. Maybe he was just confused?  
The child dropped his hands from his chest and dug at the snow. From the way the lights danced in his face it was idle frustration that drove the movement. The beast below them had given up trying to climb the snow and ice but was now lying at the base with its eyes closed. That left Geal free to stare with its frightened face at the soldier. Unease and revulsion stirred strongly in the soldier. It was…wrong. It was wrong to inspire that much fear in a child. He let his fists drop to the snow. Geal’s face flashed in a wince of fear at the movement but smoothed out at the less aggressive stance. The child’s body seemed to relax and there was less fear and more curiosity in his face.  
“Well good for you kid,” the soldier muttered as he let his chin dip to his chest.  
He was tired, tired and cold.  
“What does that mean?” Geal asked, head tilting to one side curiously.  
“Do you even understand me?” the soldier asked.  
There was no response from the child other than a rising of curiosity in the swirling lights. The soldier sighed and slumped.  
“What is that?” Geal demanded with a fresh wash of fear mingling with his lights.  
The soldier glanced up, following the gaze of the child and his eyes widened in delight. A glorious, iridescent butterfly like thing was swimming through the air towards them. Its wings were too long and thin but it circled idly towards the light in Geal’s face. The soldier lifted a hand, finger extended and the insect landed so lightly his numbed fingers couldn’t feel it. He smiled in wonder as the wings twisted into a spiral instead of folding.  
“I guest you’ve never seen one of those either?” Geal asked, the fear fading from his face even further.  
The soldier felt a swell of warm satisfaction as the child calmed. That, that was good… He must have fallen asleep because he woke to a dull pain in his side. The ice was shifting again. How long until it crushed something fatal in him he wondered? He glanced blearily at the child who was staring at him, now with concern dominating his face.  
“What is happening to your light?” Geal asked.  
The soldier frowned at him as he worked the question over in his fogged mind. Light? Human’s didn’t give off light, he thought…human…he was human. That didn’t seem to matter much at the moment. He needed to calm the concern he saw in Geal’s face. An answer, he needed an answer. Light…well infrared was light of a sort and the cold of the ice was stealing his.  
“I’m freezing to death,” the soldier blurted out.  
He regretted it instantly. No reason to traumatize the kid, but Geal only stared at him with perplexity. The soldier very deliberately looked down at his body, pinned to the tree by the snow and ice.  
“Oh, you’re dying,” Geal said in muted colors as he followed the gaze.  
Silence fell again as the lights swirled in complex thought. The soldier sighed and let his head slump. He was a soldier. He was human. He knew this language so different from his. He was a soldier. A soldier. Soldiers followed orders and … and protected things. No, not things. His thoughts were slower now, sluggish in a way they hadn’t been before. Soldiers protected people. Something clicked in his mind, half a memory half an instinct. Soldiers protected people, children. Soldiers made sure that there was no fear in the faces of children. He lifted his head weakly to stare at the child. Yes. The voice crying enemy died away to nothing. If only he wasn’t pinned here it was his job to protect the child. The forest went dark for what felt like a moment but the sky was black as night when a crack woke him. The first thing he saw was the terror in Geal’s face.  
“No, no kid,” he muttered, and coughed.  
He blinked in surprise at the burning in his lungs and the heat in his face. The forest was burning around him. There was no way the flames would reach him surrounded by snow melt as this tree was but the smoke was rapidly clogging his lungs. He had maybe a few minutes left before he closed his eyes for the last time. The beast seemed unperturbed by the fire. In fact it seemed revived by the flames. It sat on its haunches watching the child expectantly. He sought out Geal’s face. Trying to offer some sort of comfort, only to jerk in surprise at the nearness of the child’s face. Determination flashed in bold silver over the orange of fear.  
“No point in you dying too,” Geal said as he raised all four hands to point at the soldier.  
The soldier flinched back, but he was suddenly bathed in warmth that made his face tingle. His body shifted against the tree as the snow melted under him. The pressure on his chest and waist was released and he slipped down away from the child and the smoke. He slid down the snow and came to rest in unbearable heat. He gasped as his lungs drew in clean clear air below the smoke. The ground itself was warm and soft. Ash, the fire had burned past here already and the heat it left fed into his numbed body. First tingling than pain flooded his senses. Something landed beside him with a thud and he turned expecting to see the cabled body of Geal.  
Instead he saw his pack. First frustration then satisfaction filled him. This he could use. His hands seemed to move without instructions and they yanked the pack open and let the contents spill out until his eyes latched onto a box painted with a bright red cross. His still nerveless fingers struggled with the latch as the satisfied grunts of the beast filled him with fury and terror.  
No point in you dying too.  
“No point in anyone dying,” the soldier spat as the box fell open and spilled out a line of plastic sticks.  
He grabbed at them until he got two in his hands and shoved them into his mouth he bit down and a horrific taste filled his mouth. He swallowed and waited. He had enough presence of mind to shove a few more of the stimsticks in his pockets, for later. A metallic screech from above spoke of terror. The soldier cursed his useless legs and prayed that he would not revive only to watch the child torn apart. As the seconds stretched out he began to fear his memory had failed him again. However even as the thought formed fire blossomed in his gut to rival that which burned in the canopy. The fire raced from his core to his fingers and his head snapped back in an uncontrolled spasm.  
Right. One was the maximum safe dose. That memory would of course come back now. He just wouldn’t take any more. Agony lanced through him as his legs came back to life. His heart pounded and his vision faded. A roar of hunger brought him out of the darkness.  
Geal. Geal wasn’t going to die here. The soldier staggered to his feet and snarled up at the slope of snow flowing with water. He reached back to his pack and yanked his bayonet from its sheath. He charged the icy slope and began slogging up. Every frantic heartbeat seemed one too many as he struggled towards the glow that marked Geal’s location. He crested the snow slope just in time to see the child about to slide down into the maw of the beast.  
“Geal!”  
The soldier stabbed his bayonet into the thickest ice and grasped the hand outstretched to him the warm metal grasped his wrist and he hauled back. The two tumbled down the far side of the slope from the beast to its frustrated roars. They landed in the ash at the base and the soldier staggered to his feet. Geal tried to follow suit but collapsed back to the ground with a squeal of agony. The soldier glanced back up at the crest of the snow. The head of the beast appeared and then vanished again with a snarl.  
“That wall’s not going to last,” the soldier muttered.  
He bent down and scooped up the child in his arms.  
“You are going to have to hold on,” the soldier told him.  
Geal seemed to understand and his four arms wrapped around the soldier’s chest, linking hands just below his sternum. The soldier started running. He cast a glance back at his pack but knew he couldn’t carry both the pack and the child. They were soon out of sight around the shoulder of the skree slope. The soldier could only hope that the best hunted by sight alone and not scent. He knew the burst of energy that sped him along the forest floor wasn’t going to last. The forest seemed to be the beast’s habitat so he aimed for the clear spaces he could see in the distance. He came out onto a broad plateau and stopped. He spun around and took stock of the situation. The fire was far behind him. His body was still buzzing from the affect of the stimsticks. The area around him was clear, nothing could sneak up on them and the starry sky stretched overhead. Geal gave a small trill of distress and the soldier eased him down to the ground.  
“You okay kid?” the soldier asked.  
He stepped back and examined the child. It looked like it. Geal carefully rose to his feet. Pain danced across his face and his movements were stiff but the lacerations on his pelvic girdle were no longer weeping fluid. He stared up at the soldier, awe and fear mingling in his face.  
“Thanks.” The gratitude flashed weakly on Geal’s face against the swirling background of emotions.  
The soldier reached out his hand to cup Geal’s face and ran his eyes over the four arms, the eight legs, the shifting spinal armor. Geal flinched back but didn’t attempt to run or dodge. The soldier stopped before touching him and smiled gently.  
“Easy there kid,” he said as he dropped to his knees bringing his face level with the child … robot? “I guess baby robots have to come from somewhere,” he said with a wry smile as he rubbed at the ash crusted in his beard. “Maybe I should focus on getting you back there now.”  
“Let’s go home,” Geal seemed to agree.  
The child took a few experimental steps and pain flickered around the edges of his face but he seemed satisfied with what he felt.  
“This way,” Geal waved for the soldier to follow and with a shrug the soldier did.  
They tracked quickly over the relatively even high ground and it soon began to slope down into a desert of black and silver sand. Geal’s face flashed with unease and he slipped one metallic hand into the soldier’s flesh one. The soldier gave him a gentle squeeze and smiled.  
“Almost there,” Geal said. “I hope they got Gen out of the sink.”  
The soldier soon noted that everywhere Geal’s feet touched the sand a spark of static energy lit the night. The mild pain that he saw in Geal’s face began to grow and soon Geal began to stagger. The soldier lifted the child back to his shoulders and continued in the direction Geal indicated. He rounded a corner and frowned as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. A gleaming back ship was half buried in a small dune. The silver and black sand was shifting over the ship’s hull in constant motion and the movement was lit with a flickering light. The same that had sparked at Geal’s feet. Near the base of the ship a single clawed hand thrust out from a sparking circle of the sand. Three beings, like Gael but larger, sprawled out on the ground desperately and futilely swiping at the shifting sand around the hand. Every handful of sand they moved was replaced from further up the dune and every place the sand touched the metal and cables of their bodies it sparked and they twitched painfully. Their movements were awkward, uncoordinated. There was a small area that looked like it had been swept clear to the nonreactive bedrock behind them and there was a fabric shelter, probably to protect them from the reactive sand, but at the moment they were all caught up in attempting to free the one trapped under the sand.  
“What is that?” The smallest of the larger robots finally called out on catching sight of the soldier.  
The largest one twisted his face around and staggered to his feet. The sand danced off of his body sending spasms of weakness through him even as he raised his four hands aggressively and they glowed orange.  
“Wait! Progenitor!” Geal’s face flashed in time to a frantic trill as he leapt off of the soldier’s back. “No! He’s, he’s with me!”  
The Progenitor’s face snapped back and forth between the child and the soldier terror, fury, and impotent rage mixing in a confused swirl. The soldier took it all in, the twitching hand sticking out of the dune, the struggling beings. Geal turned back to the soldier and reached out to touch his hand as hope swirled over his face.  
“Can you help her? Please?” Geal asked, fear rippling across the request in his face.  
The soldier grimly assessed how long he had till the stimsticks wore off and how much sand was on top of the trapped one, how steep the slope was. He drew in a long breath. This sand seemed to paralyze the otherwise powerful beings. The tallest of which towered over him. He shook his head. He had to try. He stepped forward and began sweeping huge armfuls of sand off the top of the exposed hand. Fresh sand spilled down to refill his work but not fast enough to make it useless. He began to feel the pain and fatigue creeping past the false stimulation and he dug faster. He could see her head now, face flickering dimly, and her shoulders. He linked his arms under hers as soon as that was clear and with the last of his strength, pulled. It wasn’t enough. He snarled and shoved his hand into his pocket. His fingers closed around a stimstik and some small part of him brain screamed a warning. He shoved it into his mouth and bit down. It worked faster this time without the hypothermia to counter it and his face flushed with instant heat as his heart pounded fit to burst his chest. Now or never. He grabbed the sloping metal shoulders and pulled. She began to move and he gave a cry of triumph as she came free. He hauled her over to the cleared space where the others had gathered and the largest one accepted her into his four arms with fear and hope mingling in his gaze.  
The second largest pulled them both into the tent and turned a small fan on the limp form, blowing the sand away. She twitched under this and then suddenly her face lit with a brilliant swirl of confused color. She shifted her gaze between the other before focusing on the soldier.  
“What?” She asked.  
“He saved you!” Geal told her brightly.  
The view dimmed around the edges as the soldier felt the stimsticks wearing off. He collapsed down onto the warm, soft sand, his last view of Geal’s concerned face.  
He came to on the sand, his body screaming for food, water, and a bathroom. The soldier rolled to his feet with a groan.  
“Oh good! You’re up!” Geal said from where he sat perched on an exposed rock beside him. “Progenitor wanted to know when you revived.”


End file.
